The utility of portable platforms for reading and writing materials as used in the home and in business environments is well known. Supporting such materials in a convenient and ready position for viewing reduces fatigue and frees the user's hands for other tasks, such as writing or typing. Supporting such materials further allows the physically impaired to readily enjoy reading.
Reading/writing material supports appear in the prior art. Examples of such stands or supports include book rests designed for use on tables and desks, sheet music holders (also called music stands) supported on fixed or movable uprights, book holders designed to set in the user's lap (also called lap desks), and book holders that hold reading material above the user's head while in the supine position, typically used by handicapped or incapacitated persons. The advantages of such devices are well known, yet many of the existing devices fall far short of an ideal arrangement.
For example, supports of the prior art are in many instances heavy, cumbersome and suited only for use in certain circumstances or with certain types of reading material. A support designed for a small paperback book, for example, may not accommodate a large magazine or a newspaper. Similarly, book holders of the prior art designed to rest on top of a desk or table are not capable of holding reading material above a person's head while in a supine position. Thus, very few of these prior art supports have met with commercial success.
The vast majority of prior art book holders also suffer from the fact that a fixed planar surface upon which the book is secured is used. Securing a book to a planar surface, however, forces the book into a 180.degree. full-open position. Particularly with hard-cover books and perfect-bound magazines, a full-open position tends to damage the book spine or tear the adhesive elements, possibly to the point where the book may lose its pages or otherwise deteriorate.
Examples of such prior art book holders requiring a book to be in the full-open position include the book holder taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,616 to Carson, which discloses a tiltable planar book tray with adjustable leg brackets for leg pairs. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,736 to Champoux discloses a book holder having a flat worktable panel that allows adjustment of its inclination relative a base panel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,630 to Richard discloses a reading holder having a planar sheet member with a plurality of hollow leg tubes. U.S. Pat. No. 2,244,773 to Hawk teaches a planar table for multiple uses. U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,629 to Reed discloses an adjustable stand having a tiltable shallow tray with a flat, planar bottom to receive the outspread covers of a book which is supported between two pairs of spreading legs.
In addition to the disadvantages associated with book holders requiring the book to be opened to the full-open position, the prior art fails to provide self-supporting book holders designed for use while standing or sitting. For example, although U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,980 teaches an inverted book stand having a peaked configuration, it is limited to use in the supine position only. U.S. Pat. No. 2,481,107 to Gore discloses a combined rest, magazine support and book holder having a table and holder element without means for securing it to the user's body while standing or sitting. Gore recites that the lower edge of the holder may be supported by one hand or by a belt hook or vest button clip if the user's anatomy does not provide a secure support. U.S. Pat. No. 1,232,089 to Riebe discloses a book support having a table with rearwardly extending arms to which a flexible band is attached to bear against the user's body. Riebe, however, teaches no means for securing the flexible band, and the entire apparatus, to the user's torso in the preferred embodiment.
Accordingly, to provide a solution to these problems, it is desirable that there be one portable device that can conveniently be: a) adapted to support a wide variety of printed or viewable materials of varying sizes and shapes without the use of the user's hands; b) applied to a myriad of environments, such as on a table top, bed or couch or attached to its user's body; and c) used while its user is in a wide number of postures, such as sitting, laying down, standing, running, exercising or stooping. Further, it is desirable to have such a device adaptable to accepting a writing surface for use in many of the same environments and postures, such as sitting on a couch or laying down in bed.
In sum, a portable, lightweight, adjustable and collapsible device for releasably restraining any of a book, magazine, newspaper or other such reading or viewable materials to free the user's hands while reading, viewing or writing was needed.